Material extracting system and method

Abstract

A system for processing compounds having constituent materials of different mechanical characteristics to extract their constituent materials. The system includes a kinetic impactor configured to impact, via a shockwave, compound particles of a preimpact mixture, thereby creating a postimpact mixture including (i) subparticles of 1st-constituent-material and (ii) reduced-compound particles including a 2nd constituent material.

What is claim is: 
     
       1. An impactor for kinetically impacting a compound material comprising constituent materials of different mechanical characteristics, the impactor comprising:
 a chamber configured to be substantially filled with a liquid, the chamber including a peripheral wall comprising a pair of wall-sections facing each other, wherein an interior surface of each wall-section of the pair of wall-sections has a cylindrical parabolic shape; and 
 a shockwave generator located within the chamber, the shockwave generator comprising a plurality of pairs of gapped electrodes, 
 wherein the shockwave generator is configured to generate a shockwave by causing an electrical breakdown of the liquid in an electrode gap, for impacting a preimpact mixture comprising a plurality of compound particles, wherein each compound particle comprises a first constituent material and a second constituent material; 
 wherein each wall-section of the pair of wall-sections is associated with a corresponding pair of gapped electrodes of the plurality of pairs of gapped electrodes; 
 wherein, for each wall-section of the pair of wall-sections, the electrode gap between the gapped electrodes of the wall-section's corresponding pair of gapped electrodes coincides with a focus axis of the wall-section's cylindrical parabolic shape, such that a portion of the shockwave reflecting from the wall-section's interior surface presents a flat wavefront; 
 wherein the shockwave is able to cause the first constituent material to separate from an at least one compound particle of the plurality of compound particles, resulting in a postimpact mixture comprising (i) an at least one first-constituent-material subparticle and (ii) an at least one reduced-compound particle comprising the second constituent material; and 
 wherein the chamber further comprises (i) an input port for allowing the preimpact mixture suspended in the liquid to enter the chamber, and (ii) an output port for allowing the postimpact mixture suspended in the liquid to exit the chamber. 
 
     
     
       2. The impactor of  claim 1 , wherein the liquid comprises a surface-active fluid. 
     
     
       3. An impactor for kinetically impacting compound material comprising constituent materials of different mechanical characteristics, the impactor comprising:
 a first chamber configured to be substantially filled with a first fluid; 
 an acoustic shockwave generator located within the first chamber, the acoustic shockwave generator comprising a pair of gapped electrodes; 
 a second chamber fluidly isolated from the first chamber by an interior wall, the second chamber comprising
 (i) an input port for allowing a preimpact mixture suspended in a second fluid to enter the impactor, wherein the preimpact mixture comprises a plurality of compound particles, each compound particle of the plurality of compound particles comprises a first constituent material and a second constituent material, and 
 (ii) an output port for allowing a postimpact mixture suspended in the second fluid to exit the impactor; 
 
 wherein the acoustic shockwave generator is configured to generate an acoustic shockwave for impacting the preimpact mixture by causing an electrical breakdown of the first fluid in a gap between the pair of gapped electrodes, 
 wherein the acoustic shockwave is able to cause the first constituent material to separate from an at least one compound particle of the plurality of compound particles, resulting in the postimpact mixture comprising (i) an at least one first constituent-material subparticle and (ii) an at least one reduced-compound particle comprising the second constituent material; and 
 wherein the interior wall comprises a shockwave-transmission section configured to transmit the acoustic shockwave from the first chamber to the second chamber without the acoustic shockwave losing a substantial amount of energy. 
 
     
     
       4. The impactor of  claim 3 , wherein the first fluid is identical to the second fluid. 
     
     
       5. The impactor of  claim 4 , wherein the first fluid comprises a surface-active fluid.